The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1887-10-11
THE GREAT GUERRILLA
A Correspondent Who Looks at
Quantrell's Better Side.
FIGHTING THE DEVIL WITH FIRE
To the Kansas City Times.

KANSAS CITY, Mo, September 30.-There
is now going the rounds of the newspapers an
article column and over long whic processes
to dcai truthfully with this noted guerilla, the
most Motel that ever lived to make the pages
OF history splendid with indispensable daring
and repulsiye with torrents OF blood.
The article in question is in tho shape Of a
comespondenceto the Philadelphia Press from
Canal Dover, o., where it is reported that
Quantroll's mother now lives at great age,
reading her Bible daily and watching and
waiting for the return of that boy whom she
idolizcd and whose death she denies with a We
hemence that bears but additional evidence to
tho old, old story OF mothers faith and a
mothers devotion.
Perhaps no article as long as the one to the
Press was ever filled with more inaccuracies
and mSStatemcnts. Harsher terms for its
characterization might be iittingly employed.
but when one proposes to discuss a somewhat
noted historical character from o purely his
torical standpoint, there is no need for epithets.
We pass by without comment the biographi-
cal portion Of the article, because it is not
possible to take hold of tho fogs of the night
or the mists OF the morning, and come directly
TO the history of Quantrell, pure and simple.
The Canal Dover correspondent first calls
HIM in substance q bandit a highway robhcr
q murderer u butcher the slayer of women
and children. q devil incarnate an atrocious
tiend and whatever else camo handy to express
rage, hatred and malignancy,
Quanirell, in accordance with an act passed
by the confederate congress providing for the
organization OF corps OF what were called
partiZan rangers, was duly commissioned
colonel Of such by the then secretary of war;
James A.. Seldom, and ordered TO Missouri TO
raise regiment,
lie came and began to- recruit in Jackson
county, AS is well known by many that the
war, as far as this portion of Missouri is CON
cened, began in 1856. Much blood had al
ready been shed i'll Kansas, and all along the
border generally. Men of tho two sections
hated one another to the death, and woro in
tit condition to do any number OF terrible deeds
when Fort Sumter was fired upon
Instantly there came TO tluaniroll a number
Of young men eager for war. They know
nothing Of its dangers or its hardships, and
they cared less. They knew well that thoy
could ride and shoot, and that they were not
afraid. Beyond this they would see, Other
bands of guerillaS were formed i'll other por-
lions Of the state, and what was called bush
Whaclling began Immediately.
Across the line General James II. Lane or
ganiLed some formidable Kansas forces for SER
vice along the hoEder, and over It, too, on
many memorable and bloody occasions or
those forces Colonel Jennison had famous
regiment. In Missouri the union men organ-
izedmilitia eonlpapiesall directions, fought the
aseefassswsFsE nit S3ssRae
and hunted gueriilas Wien the chdn"os were
anything like equal for an advantageous en-
counter. Thus hell was organized in the
border counties, which existed for four years
and which sent forth on either side to shay and
be slain some OF the bravest, most deadly, and
some Of the most terrible mon known to all
the records of civil war.
From out this mutual chaos Of waste and
pilIage, fire, smoke and bloodshed, the guerillas
emerged. Free TO come and go. Bound BY no
enlistment and dependent upon no bounty.
Hunted by one nation and deprecated by the
other. prodigal of life and property, Fore
most in every foray aad last IN every rout.
Content to die sayagely and ut bay when froln
under the dead stced the wounded rider could
not cxtricate himself Mercifui rarely and
mcrcileSs often. Loving liberty In blind,
idoatrous fashion, half reality aud half super
stition. Holding no crime as bad as that of
cowardicc. Courteous to women amid all the
wild license Of pillage and slaughter. Stead
fast as faith to comradeSltip or friend. Too
serious for boastfuncss, and too near the un-
known to deceive themselves with vanity.
Emincntly practical, because constantly en-
yironcd. Starved today and Toasted tomorrow.
Victorious in this combat or deeimated in that.
Receiving no quarter and giving none. AS
tonishing pursuers by the sWiftness Of a re-
treat, or shocking humanity by the
completeness OF massacre
sable fringe on the blood-rcd
garments OF civil war, or perpetual cut-tlroat
in ambush in the midst Of regular armies, Is it
any wonder that the guerrilla organization
came to have captains, and leaders, and dscip-
line, aud language, and fastness. and hiding
places, and a terrible banner unknown to the
winds, and terribename that still lives as u
wrathful and accusing thing from the Iowa
line to the Pacific ocean?
Men stood forth as leaders by the unmisak-
able right Of superior address and undaunted
courage. There was n kind OF aristocracy Of
daring wherein the humblest might win a
crown or establish dynasty. Respect for per-
sona proves begat discipline, and discipline
strengthened by the terrible pressure OF out
side circumstances-kcpt peace in the midst Of
ment and without any flag but the black ono.
Quantrell became chief because his intel
lect dominated that OF all his followers. He
could not have been Drawer, but he might have
been and was cooler than many Of them His
aptitude for the warfare he was engaged in
was simply phenomenal. With never more
than 100 men under his commend, except
when he went to Lawrence, he fought, way
laid, ran away from came back 10, and crap
pied with necessarily, not less at any time
Than 1000 pursuers AT one period 1900 sol
dieTs were after him nj once. They never got
him out Of Jackson, CaSs and Lafayette coun-
ties. When the deep snow came he went
south. History will not call him q bandit, be-
cause he carried a commission from n govern
ment which received and granted everything
that was anenable 10 tho rules and regulations
of regular war. Even without his commission
he would no more have been bandit than
those guerrilla chiefs who fought NAPOLEON in
Spain, Macmillan in Mexico, George III. in
South Carolina, and the federal government
in the valley OF the Shenandoah.
In this country, and where great many Of
our people know what the horrors OF this gueri
rlla warfare meant, the charge that either
Quantrell or any other guerrilla from the
lowest to the highest, ever killed woman or
q child is simply a charge made by a fool or "A
liar Whatever else happened on either side,
one thing can be trutbfully said to the glory Of
aIl-female helplessness was tenderly respect
cd and female purity held as sacred as the
cause for which tho cOntendipg forces fought
Voc unto this man, 40 matter in what army,
who ever attempted an outrage. Once, and
only once in Quantrcl's career, o bush-hidcr
did, and the guerrlla5 hunted him to his
death.
it depends upon what constitutes murder
whether Quantrcll was a murderer OF not. He
fought under a black flag it is true, but haze
not all guerfillas in all lands since the worlds
history2 Even If they had not, the necessity
for him 70 do 50 was imperative. lie was out.
lawed by the federal authorities. Not u man OF
his was ever known 10 escape death ut tho
hands Of his captors. AS those who fought him
did, 80 did he. II was mutual understand
ing, and the killing went On
We simply narrate pn1 by 50 doing strive to